makes
32
prep
40 minutes
cook
12 minutes
difficulty
Easy
makes
32
serves
preparation
40
minutes
cooking
12
minutes
difficulty
Easy
level
Ingredients
- 125 g unsalted butter, softened
- 100 g (½ cup) firmly packed brown sugar
- 115 g (½ cup) caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or essence
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 300 g (2 cups) plain flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
Icing
- 2 small egg whites
- 530 g (3½ cups) pure icing sugar, sifted
- 2-3 tsp lemon juice
- black food colouring gel
Chilling time 1 hour
Instructions
Place the butter, sugars and vanilla into a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until creamy, about 5 minutes. Add the egg and beat until well combined. Add the sifted flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until a thick dough forms. Divide the dough into 2. Flatten each portion into discs, wrap separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat oven 175ºC. Line 4 baking trays with baking paper.
Meanwhile to make the icing, place the egg whites into a medium bowl and whisk with a fork until foamy. Gradually add icing sugar, beating with a wooden spoon until very thick and smooth. Add the lemon juice if icing is too thick. Place ⅓ cup of icing into a separate bowl and place plastic wrap down onto its surface to prevent it drying out. Gradually add drops of black gel colouring to remaining icing until it is a deep black colour. Mix well and set aside.
Working in batches, roll dough between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper so until it's 3 mm thick. Using a floured 6 cm round cutter, cut rounds from dough. Place onto lined trays, allowing room for spreading. Bake the cookies in preheated oven for 12-14 minutes or until cookies are just starting to go golden around edges. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on trays.
Working in batches, spoon the black icing into a plastic sandwich bag, snip off corner of bag and pipe onto cookies or spread using a flat bladed knife.
Once the black icing is set (about 15 minutes), spoon the white icing into a piping bag fitted with a no. 4 plain nozzle and pipe numbers onto cookies. Alternatively, you can make a baking paper piping bag or a plastic sandwich bag again as used previously.
Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
